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I've Got Something to Say
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| Ride Stats |
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Time: 06:17:27
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Distance:
92.45 miles
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Max Speed:
28.00 mph
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Avg Speed:
14.70 mph
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Altitude Gain:
0 ft
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Route:
Tour of Door County Day 3
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Weight:
0
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Category: general: touring -
solo
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Terrain: Road: Hills
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Bike: Fuji Roubaix RC Road
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Club: None |
| Weather Conditions: mid 60's & cloudy to mid=50's w/drizzle, to overcast |
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As we rolled out of Manitowoc, you could almost see the lake from Lake Shore Dr. The roads were pretty quite, and a little damp from the fog hanging in the area. I was the last one to leave the hotel parking lot, but quickly caught up with a group of guys a few blocks down the road, thanks to a couple traffic lights. Most of us hung together and picked up another rider or two until just before the first rest stop at mile #22. Being right around 60 degrees at the start, I was wearing just my short sleeve jersey and shorts, but decided to put on my arm warmers before leaving the rest stop as things were a little cooler and damp, so there only a couple riders left when I departed.
About 3 or 4 miles after the rest stop, the fog turned to a mist and then to a steady drizzle, and I continued to pass some of the other slower riders. Then around mile #30 I was noticing my rear tire feeling a little soft – sure enough it was going flat. I went to work as the cyclists I had just passed were passing me & asking if I need help. I told them I was fine, and had everything I needed. I located the hole in the tube, but could not locate any foreign matter in the tire to cause it, and about that time the lunch van (that had serviced the first rest stop) came by asking if I needed anything – I told them a floor pump would be quicker than my little frame pump. So, crew member John Lake grabbed a pump from the trailer and helped me finish getting this up & going.
I made it to the second rest (mile #48), just on the heals of catching the first cyclist I had seen since my flat. I was the last one to leave the rest stop (again), and made my way up the Dyckesville (mile #57) when the rear tire was giving me that strange feeling again. There was a Citgo station a block to the left (where we were to turn right), but I figured using their air service would be a big help in getting my tire re-inflated. I found the air service, behind the station building and then discovered that I do not have the presta valve adapter (car tires have Schrader valves), so the air service would be of no use. I pulled my tire off (again) to see if I could discover the cause – still no luck, so I reinstalled it then had problems with my frame pump trying to air it up. I was able to fix the pump then pump my tire up – the frame pump can only fill the tire to 60 PSI (I ride with it at 120), but it was good enough to get me up the road. I still have 12 miles to the lunch stop and figured if I could go two or 3 miles and re-air the tire, I would do that to limp into the stop. As I rolled along I then began to wonder if I missed a turn, because I had not reset my bike computer, so I was having to subtract yesterday’s approximate 72 miles from the current reading and then see where that matched on the cue sheet. After a couple stops for air, I finally reached a marker noted on the cue sheet and then tried to call the lunch van to let them know I was still on my way.
I arrived at the lunch stop (mile #69) about 15 minutes later - yes, the last one to arrive. After eating a wonderful grilled cheese sandwich (no tomato on this one) I put another new tube in the tire with neither John or myself able to find the offending object. John suggested I go ahead down the road, as they had about 20 minutes of cleanup work to do and if I’m having troubles when they come by me they’d just pick me up. OK. Besides, one thing I knew I had goig for me was that today was the longest day of the year, so I should have plenty of daylight to make it into Sturgeion Bay.
I was about 10 miles outside of Sturgeon Bay when the lunch van passed by me and everything was going just fine. Actually everything was fine, until entering Sturgeon Bay itself – I had to stop & top off my tire with less than 5 miles to go, and I finally arrived on the hotel at 4 PM, which is considerably late for a 90 mile day. However I still had to go about a mile south to my hotel – our group was split between two hotels, and though my luggage bag was dropped there for me, my laptop was not. After cleaning up & eating dinner, I pulled the tire off again and found a little piece of copper wire or staple just barely protruding through the inside surface of the tire. I had not tweezers (they were in my laptop case) or such to pull it out, but was able to back it out of its hole to remove it.
Suffice it to say I had a feeling of satisfaction as I went to sleep knowing that a) I was able to accomplish what I wanted today despite continuous setbacks and b) I found and eradicated the offending object thus providing a brighter outlook for tomorrow.
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